We learn more about Sister Jane’s past during this episode’s flashbacks. First, she’s a rookie nun in the late 1960s, timid but excitedly tagging along with hippie war protestors. A couple decades later she’s trespassing and throwing a vat of fake blood, posing for a picture – fully embracing her role as a social activist nun, if a little self-promoting about it.

Her juicy New York Times bestseller “Nun Shall Past” prompts the Catholic Church to part ways with her for being “too prideful.” The book’s release was timed with a major protest and includes some lustful thoughts and temptations, which she says were just there to entice mommy book club readers.

Soso wants Piper to publish the demands of their strike in the new inmate newspaper, which has turned into quite a hit with its mix of subversive cartoons, prison-life advice columns and puffy correctional-officer profiles. Piper agrees to put it in the paper but warns Soso that Healy, who oversees, will surely edit it out.

Healy, meanwhile, has started a “feelings” jar and offered a powerful incentive for inmates to attend his weekly group-therapy sessions: a shot knocked from your record. He is distracted by his newfound role as prison’s Dr. Phil that the hunger-strike demands slip right by him.

Daya, who has been angry at Bennett for pinning her pregnancy on Mendez, continues to give him the cold shoulder. Her mother reminds her in her depressingly resourceful way that “this rape is the best thing that ever happened to you.” Mendez, she explains, will be on the hook for child-support and Daya can sue the government over the ordeal. Daya is still upset that Bennett won’t publicly proclaim his love for her and take responsibility for his child even it means he’ll end up behind bars for rape. Everyone except Daya seems to think the Mendez solution was a win-win.

Red tries to sniff out who blabbed about her new contraband plan to Vee and very quickly discovers it was Big Boo. Red confronts Boo and then shuns her from the group, tossing her a bag of jolly rangers. “Enjoy them, it’s the last thing I’ll ever do for you,” Red says. “There are houses around here with much better candy,” Boo snaps back. “You look like a bunch of half-price Garbage Pail Kids.”

The house Big Boo was referring to, of course, is Vee’s. Though she quickly learns she’s not welcome there either. “I don’t like snitches,” Vee says, in the only scene in which she’s ever done anything vaguely honorable.

Sister Jane finally relents and decides to join the hunger strike crew. But instead of demanding better syrup and less abusive use of solitary confinement, she’s protesting the treatment of the incarcerated elderly, which she points out, is America’s fastest growing prison population. Her biggest beef: the “compassionate release” program that prompted the elderly inmate with dementia to be released to the streets all on her own a few weeks ago. She’s right, this was one of the show’s more heartbreaking twists. And as we’ve learned from the flashbacks, Sister Jane’s involvement in a cause is never a halfway affair.

Later, she passes out in the bunk room. Caputo corrals Soso and Yoga Jones to try to talk her into eating. She’s too old and fragile for this business. And the whole thing isn’t garnering any attention outside prison anyway – the winter storm is dominating the news cycle at the moment. But Sister Jane refuses. She’s hauled off in a wheelchair to a medical facility.

Poussey and Vee continue to have tense encounters. It’s pretty heartbreaking, since Poussey, aka our favorite inmate at Litchfield, seems to no longer have any friends. She’s drinking moonshine in the library alone, throwing up in the bathroom afterwards. “You’re like a pedophile without the sex!” she screams at Vee, an accurate put-down if there ever was one. Later, in the dining hall, Vee tells Taystee that if Poussey does anything out of line she’s blaming her.

Polly and Larry confront Polly’s wandering husband but he’s confused. “This feels like an ambush,” he says. “I am not an alcoholic, I’m Australian!” Then he thinks it’s a threesome they’re proposing. Finally he gets it, and punches Larry in the face.

Also in the outside world, Alex is living in a small apartment in Queens. Piper reaches her by phone and learns that Kubra wasn’t actually convicted – which means that Alex, having testified against him, is basically on the run from his crew. A loud bang at her door turns out to be a neighbor complaining about her recycling sorting (such a NY moment). But he off-handedly mentions that a few “Arab guys” came by looking for her. “Well maybe not Arab but some dusky gentlemen.” She’s in trouble.

At Healy’s Safe Place gathering inmates sit on folding chairs in a circle and pass along a “talking stick” with a tassel hanging from it. He passes around a feelings chart. Vee has sent Crazy Eyes to keep an eye on Poussey. “Did it ever occur to you that we don’t want to get in touch with our feelings?” Poussey yells to Healy when he prods her to pick a feeling. “Feeling our feelings might make it possible to be in here!”

The hunger strikers continue to grow weaker, and two fall (guess who) when Caputo and another guard tempt them with pizza from Little Ceasers. “The only thing better than getting what you want.” “What should be their slogan,” says Leanne, biting into a warm slice.

Polly gets all kinds of bad news this episode. The warden decides to kill the inmate newspaper entirely, after the hunger-strike demands slip in unnoticed. Even worse: Healy informs Piper that she’s going to be transferred to Virginia because of an overpopulation problem. Noooo! This also means she likely won’t be able to see Alex, who had made plans to come visit on Saturday so they could talk.

One of the Golden Girls attacks someone from Vee’s crew with a makeshift dagger (can’t really tell who it is – I hope not Taystee!). Does she think it was Vee? Vee watches the attack unfold with her usual sinister, lurk-y scowl.

In the final seen Sister Jane is force-fed at the hospital, despite the fact that she’s still conscious (apparently the prison rule is that they aren’t supposed to do this if you are still awake and can protest). “I’m awake! I’m awake!” she screams.

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.